I read an article today entitled, Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Healthcare. It revealed an interesting statistic… Four billion dollars per year is spent in the US on drug ads.

If four billion doesn’t sound like that big of a number, let me help put this amount into perspective for you. If your annual salary was $40,000 per year, it would take you 100,000 years to earn enough money to buy that kind of advertising. The combined advertising dollars spent by Google, Coca-Cola and Starbucks is still a billion dollars less than these pharmaceutical companies.

The Nielsen Co. estimates that on a daily basis, an average of 80 drug ads are displayed each hour on American television. That’s over 700,000 TV commercials per year convincing you to “ask your doctor” for drugs!

The question I have is… Why is this necessary? Americans spend more on health care than 190 other countries. With the highest number of doctors and hospitals in the world, shouldn’t we have this whole “Medicine” thing in the bag by now?

You’d think so… but a report from the World Health Organization says otherwise. WHO pinned the 37th Place ribbon on America for overall health, above Slovenia and Cuba. Shameful, in my opinion.

So where did things go wrong? I think the part of the problem stems from allowing pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers. Prior to the 1980’s, this wasn’t allowed by the FDA, mainly because no one really thought patients could understand the complicated lingo of pharmaceutical science.

But a slick-talking ad-man came up with an industry-changing idea. Why not go against the grain and market directly to the patients? They hoped to earn $34 million dollars from this crazy new approach. $800 million dollars later, they knew they were on to something.

Writing today’s blog post reminded me of a conversation I had with a highly respected pediatrician here in St Louis about 12 years ago. He acknowledged the drug-ad problem and felt Americans were severely over-medicated. He said, “I’ve been practicing over 30 years. During the first half of my career, patients never demanded medication. But now, that’s all they want… and if I don’t give it to them, they’ll just hop around from doctor to doctor until they get it. They’re going to get it from somebody, so I have no other choice but to meet the demand.”

According to ProCon.org, only two countries in the world legally allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise “direct-to-consumer” – USA & New Zealand (NZ ranks 41st on the list).

I’ve always felt that the most effective drugs don’t have to be advertised. Think about it… When was the last time you saw a TV commercial for any brand of antibiotics? And have you ever seen a TV commercial for novocaine or morphine?

Instead, the ads you see are targeting people suffering from conditions like depression, anxiety, and obesity… and none of the drugs actually “cure” the problem.

But they do create life-long customers... and that’s exactly what you can buy with four billion dollars.

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Blog - www.drtanase.com

Twitter - @ChiropracticSTL

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The image below depicts a structural imbalance in the body resulting from upper cervical misalignment.

You might be surprised to learn that many cases of shoulder, back and pelvic pain are actually caused by a problem in the neck!

In an attempt to keep the eyes level with the horizon, your spine will bend, twist, and adapt as much as necessary.

Here’s what I want you to remember… If head/neck misalignment caused your pain sensations to develop, but you only address the other body parts that hurt, the problem will never go away.

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Sitting directly beneath the skull is a 2-oz bone that I like to call Function Junction. Anatomically, it’s better known as “atlas” or C1.

Billions of messages travel to and from the brain directly through the center of this spinal bone every second! It protects a vital area of your nervous system known as the brainstem, which controls “automatic” functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate, and blood pressure.

For any number of reasons, however, the atlas can lose its normal position. Pressure or irritation around “function junction” can cause a wide variety of health problems.

Patients can experience headaches, back and neck pain, joint stiffness, high blood pressure, constipation, lack of energy, and insomnia, among other things. (Many of my previous blog posts further discuss the types of issues that can develop.)

Specific chiropractors are uniquely trained to detect and correct misalignment of the atlas. The problems associated with this area of the spine are so complex that some doctors choose to undergo additional training to focus exclusively on this area. They’re commonly referred to as Upper Cervical specialists.

A great way to live a healthy, drug-free lifestyle is to reduce or eliminate problems caused by atlas misalignment. When this area of the spine is free and clear of interference, the brain is better able to communicate with the body. This ensures appropriate structural balance, and contributes to healthier functioning organs, tissues, joints and cells of the body.

Many people aren’t aware that their chronic health problems can improve under Upper Cervical Care. I invite you to take a look at my video page so you can watch patient testimonials and success stories.

If you’re fed up with being sick and in pain, it might be time to have your body’s “function junction” checked by an Upper Cervical chiropractor.

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The gold standard in Upper Cervical Care is how long the adjustment lasts. Therefore, the longer a patient can hold their correction, the better off they are!

This was an exciting week in my St Louis chiropractic office… Another patient was welcomed into our “One Year Adjustment Club.” It’s a special designation awarded to patients who can hold their upper cervical correction for one year or longer. While the recipient did come in for periodic checkups throughout the year, she hasn’t actually needed an adjustment since June of 2008.

When patients are able to reach this 12-month mark, it’s truly special, and a terrific demonstration of potential.

While chiropractic adjustments are beneficial, they’re not intended to be given all the time. In fact, the fewer adjustments a person needs, the better! “Needing” an adjustment means that the spine has misaligned, thereby altering nerve transmission, and impairing some form of physiologic function… these aren’t things we want happening!

If you’re currently under the care of a chiropractor, how often are you getting adjusted?

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Adam Tanase, D.C.

St Louis Chiropractor

www.drtanase.com

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Reverse engineering involves taking something apart and analyzing it in detail.

I'd like to walk you through the reverse-engineering process of sickness and disease. Let's begin at the end...

The final component is the name of the condition; this is called a diagnosis.

Before a diagnosis can be identified, a particular series of events or sensations must precede its identification. These are called symptoms.

Before symptoms manifest, a function or process has to take place abnormally. This is considered malfunction.

Something must specifically disrupt or cause this malfunction to occur. Generally speaking, we can refer to this as interference.

Prior to this interference, functioning is normal. “Normal function” is the simplest definition of health.

Through the process of reverse-engineering, it can be said that sickness is a four-step process. When a healthy person experiences some form of physical, chemical or emotional interference, it can disrupt the normal function of their body, causing malfunction. Given the opportunity, this malfunction develops into one or more symptoms. A collection of symptoms is labeled with a diagnosis.

In the standard medical model of health care, symptoms of a diagnosis are most often treated with pharmaceutical drugs. This symptom-treating approach focuses exclusively on the second half of the four-step process.

Assuming the medication successfully treats the symptoms, you’re still left with steps 1 and 2 of the problem. If the symptoms reoccur after you stop taking the medication, then the problem wasn’t actually solved, and you were never really “cured.”

In order for the problem to be truly eliminated, the first half of the process must be addressed.

The “Specific Chiropractic” model of health care reverse-engineers the process of sickness and disease. Instead of masking symptoms, the approach targets steps 1 and 2 by locating and correcting the interference.

By eliminating the interference, function will be restored. With the return of normal function, symptoms disappear naturally. This is true health restoration.

Which approach makes more sense to you?

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Adam Tanase, D.C.

www.drtanase.com

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Not too long ago, smoking was widely accepted. Doctors encouraged and sponsored it. Many even puffed cigs while treating patients! They confidently assured women that it was perfectly safe to smoke and drink during pregnancy.

What type of advice given today will future generations will look back upon and consider “dumb and dangerous” 50 years from now?

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

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The most common areas of complaint I see in spinal fusion patients are pain at the base of the skull and in the the lowest part of the neck, soreness between the shoulder blades, and numb sensations within the arm and hand.

These conditions often get great results from chiropractic care. But there’s just one problem… Fusion patients are told not to get chiropractic adjustments! Many people want to know if there is any truth to this advice. Is chiropractic care safe for people with surgical fusion?

Yes and No. Ultimately, it depends on the case, and which part of the spine was fused and why. Acute spinal fractures and malignant tumors are obvious contraindications to manipulation.

Patients with fusion resulting from disc herniation, however, are better candidates. I know that when surgeons tell their patients to stay away from chiropractic adjustments after surgery, they’re doing so with the best of intentions. But I believe that many of them are unaware of the advances in chiropractic methods, and simply don’t know that certain techniques are not harmful to fusion patients.

While rotational methods applied to the fused segments may be ill-advised, many chiropractic techniques can help people without the need to “twist & pop” the neck. Most Upper Cervical methods are great alternatives. These include NUCCA, Grostic, Atlas Orthogonal, Palmer Specific, and Blair.

There are also “full spine” instrument-based methods that are acceptable. Examples include Pro-Adjuster and ArthroStim.

If you or someone you know has had spinal fusion, please don’t assume that you “can’t” visit a chiropractic office.
While not everyone will be a candidate for care, many fusion patients have safely experienced the benefits of specific chiropractic.

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Adam Tanase, D.C.

St Louis Chiropractor

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Almost every time I make a drive-through deposit at the bank near my Webster Groves office, my transaction is complete in under 50-seconds. The tellers are great, and I appreciate their noteworthy efficiency. At the branch nearest my home, however, the drive-through process seems painfully slow, and can take over ten minutes, even when I’m the only car in line!

I would have never guessed that two branches of the same bank could be so different.

That got me thinking about the different experiences people can have in various chiropractic offices. You see, chiropractors have an assortment of adjusting techniques to choose from. Depending on the doctor’s philosophy, technique preference, clinical expertise, communication style, and personality, patients can have starkly contrasting experiences!

I liken it to the first time I ever tried Indian food… It was awful! This one incident forged my entire perception of Indian cuisine. Years later, I mustered up the courage to try it again. This time, we dined at a different Indian restaurant and our meals were incredible! I would have never imagined that I’d be telling people how good Indian food is, considering my first experience. But I’ve since introduced it to a number of naysayers, and now they’re hooked!

Oddly enough, a person’s opinion of chiropractic care can be similar. I met a man once who had an unpleasant experience with a chiropractor. As a result, he dismissed the value of chiropractic altogether. At the same time, I know people who are fiercely loyal to chiropractic because of the life-changing improvements they experienced.

While writing today’s blog, I’m reminded of the phrase an old chiropractic veteran used to tell his patients: “It’s not the TIC, it’s the TOR.” He meant that if they didn’t receive the outcome they were hoping for from him, they shouldn’t give up, but instead try a different chiropractic office.

While I’ve personally benefited from a number of different techniques, there are methods that I greatly prefer over others. With all the different techniques available, you will likely develop your own preferences.

In all aspects of life, we have choices. When you’re looking for a doctor, remember that many different options are available. If you don’t like one, fire’m and try someone else! One time I had a really bad dentist, but I kept searching until I found one I liked better.

Chiropractic is an amazing form of healthcare! When you find the right chiropractor for you, you’ll know it!

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Adam Tanase, D.C.

www.drtanase.com

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